Storm not forecast to make landfall but is expected to strengthen again on Sunday and Monday and turn north
Large swells battered the north-east Caribbean on Saturday as Hurricane Lee churned nearby through open waters as a category 3 storm.
The storm, which is not forecast to make landfall, was located about 350 miles (565km) east and north-east of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 115mph (185kph) and was moving west and north-west at 12mph (19kph).
Continue reading...New government register shows how offshore jurisdictions used for ownership of nearly 200 properties including hotels and country estates
The royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own more than £1bn of UK property via offshore jurisdictions, such as Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, the Guardian can reveal.
Nearly 200 properties, including hotels, London mansions and country estates, belong to a few small but super-rich dynasties, according to analysis of a new government register that reveals who is behind offshore companies that own UK property.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary decided to give territory two years to implement reforms to tackle corruption
Direct rule will not be imposed on the British Virgin Islands (BVI) after the UK foreign secretary decided to give the territory’s emergency administration two years to implement reforms to tackle endemic corruption.
Last month the BVI’s premier, Andrew Fahie, faced charges of money laundering and conspiring to import cocaine after he was arrested in a sting operation by US agents posing as Mexican drug traffickers in Miami. He denies the charges.
Continue reading...Judge rejects prosecutors’ claim that Andrew Fahie, arrested in DEA drug sting, could flee US if freed from prison
The premier of the British Virgin Islands, whom US prosecutors described in court as “corrupt to the core”, has been given a $500,000 bond that would allow him to be released from prison as he awaits trial on charges tied to a US narcotics sting.
Federal court judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes rejected prosecutors’ argument that Andrew Fahie would flee the US and possibly engage in criminal activity if he is freed.
Continue reading...Andrew Fahie was arrested last week in a US Drug Enforcement Administration sting as he was preparing to board a private jet
The premier of the British Virgin Islands has demanded his immediate release from US custody, arguing he is immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges because he is the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory.
An attorney for Andrew Fahie made the request in a filing with Miami federal court on Monday.
Continue reading...UK dispatches minister after ex-leader charged with drug offences and inquiry finds serious governance issues
The Foreign Office is risking a political backlash on the British Virgin Islands if it goes ahead with plans recommended by an independent commission of inquiry to impose a form of direct rule on the islands from London after allegations of maladministration and corruption.
Natalio Wheatley, the acting BVI premier elevated to the office after the former premier Andrew Fahie, 51, was arrested on drug running charges in Miami on Thursday, said he opposed the plan for direct rule for two years, with the British appointed governor taking charge and being advised by a council of local politicians.
Continue reading...In a further twist, the islands’ premier has been arrested in a Miami sting operation on suspicion of drug trafficking
Britain is poised to impose a form of direct rule over the British Virgin Islands after the Caribbean territory’s premier was arrested in Miami on suspicion of drug running, and a UK-appointed commission of inquiry found rampant failings in governance.
Andrew Fahie appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday, a day after he was arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Agency in an elaborate sting operation that also snared the chief executive of the BVI port authority and her son.
Continue reading...Andrew Fahie is due in court on drug charges in Miami after arrest following months-long undercover operation
In mid-October, as Sir Gary Hickinbottom’s commission of inquiry into the government of the British Virgin Islands, led by the premier, Andrew Fahie, was taking laborious public oral evidence for a 44th day, a US Drug Enforcement Administration informant was, according to court papers, meeting some self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives on the BVI island of Tortola to discuss how to shift cocaine through the territory en route to Puerto Rico, Miami and New York.
Hickinbottom was taking mind-numbingly dull evidence on how to apply for BVI citizenship, and whether the process was open to manipulation.
Continue reading...Amanda Melling’s visit follows fears UK tax havens may offer loophole for those trying to avoid clampdown
A Foreign Office minister has flown to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to hold urgent discussions on how sanctions against Russian oligarchs with cash stored in the secretive islands can be implemented, amid fears. UK tax havens may provide a loophole for those trying to escape the international clampdown.
Amanda Milling’s visit follows news that a succession of oligarchs appeared to have hidden their assets in trusts based in the BVI in a bid to put them beyond reach of UK sanctions. British sanctions laws apply in the overseas territories, and enforcement officers are supposed to have full access to registers of beneficial ownerships.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Deal is part of north-east regeneration scheme developed by property tycoons David and Simon Reuben
HM Revenue and Customs has struck a deal to relocate tax officials into a new office complex in Newcastle owned by major Conservative party donors through an offshore company based in a tax haven, the Guardian can reveal.
The department’s planned new home in the north-east of England is part of a regeneration scheme developed by a British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity controlled by the billionaire property tycoons David and Simon Reuben.
Continue reading...The exclusive property by the sea, with infinity pool, where the Tory MP stayed to conduct his lucrative side-hustle
Most days, there is a cool breeze. The private villa is located above a secluded rocky bay and set in a tropical garden of palms and exotic fruit trees. From the balcony you can gaze at the sea below and the green humps of nearby islands – a “scattered Pleiades”, as the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor put it.
There is an infinity pool. And a terrace, perfect for cocktails against a pink Caribbean sunset. Tavistock it isn’t. Yet the villa on the north shore of Tortola, the biggest of the British Virgin Islands, was where Sir Geoffrey Cox ended up staying earlier this year as he juggled the responsibilities of his first and second jobs.
Continue reading...UK overseas territories such as Cayman Islands also may lose protection once afforded by UK’s EU membership
The European parliament is pushing for UK overseas territories including the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey and Jersey to be added to an EU tax havens blacklist after the conclusion of the Brexit deal.
Sending a signal that tougher action on tax avoidance was required in response to the coronavirus pandemic, MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of adding more nations and territories to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions.
Continue reading...Gus Jaspert’s extraordinary step comes amid claims of a climate of fear in the UK overseas territory
Allegations of widespread political corruption, misuse of taxpayer’s money and a climate of fear in the British Virgin Islands have led its governor to take the extraordinary step of establishing an independent judge-led inquiry into the claims.
Gus Jaspert, the British-appointed BVI governor, with the personal backing of the UK prime minister, has established a commission of inquiry to investigate concerns over governance, including specific allegations that point to possible corruption and infiltration by serious organised criminal gangs. The six-month inquiry, to be led by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, follows the discovery by police in November of a haul of cocaine worth more than £190m.
Jaspert broke the news to the island on Monday after returning from the UK, where he was on leave. It was reported that he had been struggling with his communications systems in recent weeks, and complained to the premier, Andrew Fahie, but said nothing was done, forcing him to ring newsrooms individually.
Continue reading...Announcement follows years of tax evasion scandals involving BVI shell companies
The government of the British Virgin Islands has finally committed to introducing public registers of beneficial ownership for companies incorporated in the tax haven.
The announcement, made in the islands parliament, comes in the wake of years of tax evasion and money laundering scandals, in which shell companies incorporated in the territory regularly played a central role.
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